Page 126 - World of Darkness

A wise Storyteller avoids enforcing such successes would have increased by one and you would have
authority too often. “Executive rolls” are best kept re-rolling.
reserved for situations in which characters and
The rule of re-rolling 10’s applies to everything from
players must be kept out of the loop about un- gathering information on the street to determining the
folding events. Yet there’s nothing more frus-
effectiveness of a punch.
trating to players than having control of their A 10 rolled on a die always calls for a re-roll, even on
characters’ actions — and dice rolls — taken
a chance roll (see below). Of course, a 10 is required to
away too often. achieve any success on a chance roll. If you keep re-roll-
ing 10’s, you keep accumulating successes.

Target Numbers The Chance Roll
Okay, so you have all these dice in your hand. How Any time a dice pool is reduced to zero dice, usually
do you use them? Almost all rolls made in the Storytelling due to penalties applied to your pool, you may still make a
System have a target number of 8. You want to roll 8 or chance roll. It’s a “Hail Mary,” desperate, last-ditch effort
higher on each die. that your character would seem to have no right to achieve.
For each die that turns up 8 or higher in a roll, your Maybe he squeezes off what seems an impossible shot or
character achieves a success at the action he performs. he tries to win the favor of a mob determined to kill him.
Sometimes the number of successes is counted to deter- Roll one die, called a chance roll. It has a target num-
mine results, such as in combat. Other times a single suc- ber of 10. Rolling 10 gets you a success and your character
cess is all that’s required for an action to be fulfilled, such amazingly performs the feat attempted. Almost any roll
as rounding a corner in a speeding car. other than 10 indicates failure. As always, you get to roll
Example: Your character tries to identify the kind of 10’s again. You have a chance to perform a stunning suc-
vehicle from which a part comes. His Intelligence + Crafts is cess if you keep re-rolling 10’s and accumulate successes.
6, and he has a Specialty in engines, offering a +1 bonus. Example: Your character tries to fire a shot at a target
You form a pool of seven dice. The Storyteller decides, who is concealed and at long range. The penalties for those
however, that the wear and tear that the old part has suffered circumstances reduce your dice pool to zero, leaving you
makes it difficult to recognize (he imposes a -1 penalty). You with a chance roll if your character attempts the feat at all.
remove one die and are left with six to roll against a target He goes for it. You roll a single die and need a 10 to get a
number of 8. success. You roll 10 for one success. The “10 Again” rule
allows you to re-roll 10’s to hopefully accumulate successes,
You get a 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9, for two successes. Since so you get to roll again. Another 10 turns up, so you have
only one success is required to pull off the feat, your two successes and get to keep re-rolling. Your third roll
character recognizes the part from a military truck.
produces an 8, for a total 0f two successes on the chance
roll. Your character hits his target against all odds.
10 Again Notice in the example that the roll of 8 was not a
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Extremely good rolls success on the chance roll. Whenever you make a chance
can lead to extremely positive results for your character. roll, no matter how many times you roll 10 again, the
Anytime you get a 10 on a die roll you earn a success and target number remains 10. Rolls of 8 or 9 do not count as
you get to roll that die again. That’s called “10 again.” If successes, not even on re-rolls.
the re-roll results in a success, you earn an extra success in
the effort. If the result is another 10, you get to keep re- Dramatic Failure
rolling and you add another success to your character’s Sometimes actions go catastrophically wrong. Your
action for every 10 that you get. If multiple dice in your character has the best of intentions, but he slips, makes a
pool turn up 10’s, you re-roll all of those dice and keep mistake, something gets in the way or an environment
accumulating extra successes and keep making any extra change leads to tragedy. These developments are called
rolls. The results can be exceptional successes, in which dramatic failures. A dramatic failure occurs only when
your character performs stunning or near-miraculous feats. you’re reduced to making a chance roll and you get a 1.
Example: Your dice pool consists of seven dice. You get Take the previous example of the unlikely shot. If
2, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10. That’s three successes, but one die your character took it and your first chance roll produced
got a 10, which you get to re-roll. Say you get a 5. That’s a 1, a dramatic failure would have occurred.
not a success, so your total successes for the roll remains at For a dramatic failure to occur, no other successes can
three. If you got an 8 or 9, however, you would have gotten have been achieved in your chance roll. So, a catastrophic
an additional success, for a total of four. Now, if you had result may occur only on your first chance roll. If you get
rolled another 1o, not only would your total successes for the a 10 on your first roll, which is a success, and get a 1 on
action have risen to four, you would have rolled that die yet your re-roll, your character has one success and you stop
again. If it got another success, your total would have re-rolling. No dramatic failure occurs because you’ve al-
increased again. If it resulted in yet another 10, your
ready achieved one success on the chance roll.

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SYSTEMS- Rolling Dice